Another swipe at the free press: When corporate capture hides behind progress

The issue is not just about independent news. Time may be running out for the public, who face a crisis of control — over their government, homeownership, the very existence of independent businesses, including media ownership — along with our rights to free speech, privacy and due process — the American Way.”

Laura Rearwin Ward, founder of the California Independent News Alliance and publisher of the Ojai Valley News

Newspapers are essential assets of and for the people, and it has become clear what happens when Big Corporate interests take them over — reporting is lost. The goals of Big Media differ from those of local, independent owners. The people need their own news outlets with healthy, independent, diverse ownership as the key to a free press. Increasingly, most news ownership is in the hands of very few.

In California, the Keep News Independent Act (Assembly Bill 611) was introduced this year to slow the relentless consolidation of local independent news outlets by Big Media by requiring that employees and the community get notice before a news publication is sold to vulture capitalists.

The “crazy” idea behind the bill is the protection of the people’s right to know, so of course, it’s been a hard sell with legislators beholden to Big Business. Employees and community members need a window of opportunity in front of big outside corporate interests — a chance to save their local newspapers.

A consortium of the free-independent-press faithful supports the bill. That includes the California Independent News Alliance (CINA), California Common Cause, Rebuild Local News and labor groups.

Opposing the bill is the big trade organization — the California News Publishers Association.

Press freedom lost another round in June when AB611 was postponed in the California State Senate. Had the bill not been pushed to next year, it would have died a sudden death in the State Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the bill's author, Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-Fremont).

It was a tough break, as Californians are still reeling from the loss of an independent community newspaper earlier this year when Sonoma County's Press Democrat was sold to Alden Global Capital, a multinational hedge fund. Arguably, Alden is a key player in decimating local news reporting nationwide by buying up local newspapers and stripping them for parts.

With these consolidations replicated across the country, the core interest of the newspaper shifts from its responsibility as a watchdog for its community to its responsibility for generating profits for its shareholders.

The reason du jour voiced by legislators not to protect local media ownership from takeovers and preserve our free press sounded like a new brand of virtue signaling: We don’t want to discriminate against hedge funds and private equity companies for newspaper transactions.

So, the drumbeat against a free and healthy press — one that meaningfully provides professional local news coverage — continues. The deck is stacked.

Despite the AB611 delay, the public is gaining clarity on seeing their representatives at every level voting with their hands tied behind their backs, wrapped up in the money and influence that got them elected. We see our representatives taking part in power consolidation, disregarding the best interests of their constituents, and behaving as servants to their campaign money masters.

It is difficult to watch our elected officials turn their backs on their constituents, offering hollow-sounding explanations for why they fail to honestly and fearlessly represent a better life for them.

The issue is not just about independent news. Time may be running out for the public, who face a crisis of control — over their government, homeownership, the very existence of independent businesses, including media ownership — along with our rights to free speech, privacy and due process — the American Way.

The old paradigm of red versus blue has become but a distraction. The struggle now is for the people themselves — our independence, prosperity and freedoms: Independents vs. Mega Corporations and Smalls vs. Bigs.

With corporate capture, we face more closed and powerful government agencies, where elected officials often work hand in glove with Big Oil, Big Ag, Big Tech, Big Health, Big Pharma, Big Media, Super PACs and the Military-Industrial Complex. We turn to our representatives for help, yet we watch helplessly as power and wealth consolidation continue and our standards of health, freedom and living decline.

In the broader context, the setback in California is just another example of the incremental erosion of the public’s right to a free press in the grand scheme of decommissioning. But here, as a publisher on the front lines of saving local independent news, every battle counts. The people need a chance.

Independents unite. Support free speech and the independent press. Support and partner with locally owned independent outlets near you. Seek champions for publications who truly report for the people and stand up for the press freedom that Americans deserve.

Laura Rearwin Ward is the founder of the California Independent News Alliance, a group of locally owned and operated independent news outlets, and publisher of the Ojai Valley News. She can be reached at publisher@ojaivalleynews.com.